The present invention relates to a device for after-use protection of a hypodermic needle, particularly of the butterfly type.
So-called butterfly needles are known which are used in the medical field to perform phleboclyses, transfusions, perfusions, sample-taking or the like.
Said needles derive their name from the fact that they are provided with a grip region shaped like co-planar butterfly wings and are fitted at the end of a tube which can be connected hydraulically to a bottle or to a bag for dispensing or withdrawing body liquids; when the wings are folded together, the grip region allows to easily insert the needle under the skin, and once the needle has been inserted and the wings have been released, it is meant to be surmounted by a portion of adhesive bandage which rigidly couples the needle to the patient and prevents its extraction.
These conventional needles entail a high risk of infection because they have the severe drawback that once removed from the patient their pointed end is not protected; in practice, medical or paramedic staff, when removing the needle, discards it together with the remaining material into polythenelined cardboard containers which can be perforated by said needles.
The staff performs such operations repeatedly, and in the course of time acquires ever greater confidence, often neglecting the necessary precautions; accordingly, sometimes the medical or paramedic staff suffers punctures while handling these used needles.
The consequent extremely severe danger of contamination, even with devastating diseases such as viral hepatitis or worse still AIDS, is evident.
Consequently, tubular rigid cases have been devised which are slid along the tube toward the needle and in which the needle is caught; the needle can no longer be removed due to the presence of hooks or snap-acting retention means on the two diametrically opposite sides of the case, which lock the two wings of the needle.
Conventional tubular cases have the drawback that they must be fitted on the tube at the factory: sliding the case along the tube further requires a plurality of manual movements which are very troublesome and awkward to perform, especially if they have to be performed with just one hand.
Moreover, the tubular shape of the cases does not allow to effectively press with cotton wool or the like simultaneously against the skin area perforated by the needle, against the needle and against the tubular case so as to block it during the extraction of the needle in order to avoid undue bleeding and thus allow to make the butterfly needle slide within the tubular protective case.
The aim of the present invention is to obviate the above drawbacks of conventional devices, i.e., to provide a device for after-use protection of a hypodermic needle, particularly of the butterfly type, which does not have to be fitted on the tube before the needle punctures the patient and which entails, for fitting on the tube, the execution of elementary movements which are easy even if they are performed with just one hand; it also allows to effectively press with cotton wool or the like against the skin area perforated by the needle during its extraction, in order to avoid bleeding, and to slide the needle into the device in the position for protecting the tip of the needle by working with just one hand.
If it is necessary to use the needle in a position in which space or other constraints do not allow to use the device by fitting it on the tube at the needle, the device can be fitted on the tube at a distance from the needle which is sufficient to avoid being in the way; once the needle has been removed from the skin of the patient, the device is retained with one hand and the tube is retracted with the other hand until the needle slides into the device in the position for protecting the tip.
Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to achieve said aim with a structure which is simple, relatively easy to provide in practice, safe in use, effective in operation and has a relatively low cost.
This aim and this object are both achieved by the present device for after-use protection of a hypodermic needle, particularly of the butterfly type, characterized in that it is constituted by an elongated flat laminar element having, at one end and on two sides, two laminas which are mutually spaced by a longitudinal central space and are folded toward the laminar element in order to form two blind lateral flat guides for the sliding of the butterfly wings of the needle; and in that said blind lateral flat guides are slightly curved away from the surface of the element and are adapted, when the needle retracts, to press its point so that it slides against the surface of the central band of the flat element in order to wedge into the bottom of the space that lies between two raised or flush saw-toothed protrusions or teeth of said band and prevent the escape of said needle.